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Home , Duck tour, Paul Revere House

Bustling Steeped in tradition, yet more lively and ambitious than many urban centers, Boston is a fantastic place to visit. By Emily Law

Since its birth as a tiny Puritan settlement in 1630, ry. Beacon Hill is the city’s oldest neighborhood and retains Boston has become a bustling regional hub, home to over the feel of a 19th-century European city, with charming half a million people. It offers some of the world’s finest town houses and cobblestone streets. The Back Bay was built hospitals and institutions of higher learning, including on a swamp that was gradually filled in the late 1800s. Also Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital, the with a European feel, this neighborhood boasts some of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and General city’s best (and most expensive) shopping districts, includ- Hospital. There’s also easy access to urban culture, a pas- ing and Commonwealth Avenue. sionate sports community, and beaches and mountains nearby. Boston offers everything except plentiful street One if by land, two if by sea parking—but the city’s marvelous public transit system The , Boston’s oldest church, still (the Massachusetts Bay Transport Authority, or simply hosts Sunday Episcopal services. From its tower flared “the T”) makes up for this. two lanterns on April 18, 1775, warning Located on the Massachusetts coast north of Cape Cod, that the British were approaching by sea. The city’s old- Boston has a four-season climate that swings from lows est downtown building is the Paul Revere House in the averaging 22° F (–5.6° C) to highs averaging 82° F (27.8° North End, built around 1680. Boston’s tallest building C). Summers are humid, but ocean breezes are free. is the John Hancock Tower, designed by architect I.M. Pei and built in 1976. Shall we walk or take a Duck? , located in the heart of the city, is the Boston is a wonderful city for walking. To get a sense of nation’s oldest park. Originally a pasture, it hasn’t seen 1 the city and its historic treasures, walk the 2 ⁄2-mile Free- grazing cattle since 1830. In the adjacent Public Garden, dom Trail, which passes 16 historic sites in downtown you can still ride the Swan Boats, a popular recreation Boston. Many of them are free; pick up a map at the visi- operating since 1877. tor information booth on Boston Common, where the The oldest commissioned warship still afloat is the tour begins. Or take a Boston Duck Tour aboard an am- USS Constitution, nicknamed “Old Ironsides” for the way a phibious World War II vehicle. These 80-minute tours British cannonball bounced off her hull in the War of leave from the Prudential Center. Your Duck will waddle 1812. You can see her at the Charlestown Navy Yard. And right into the Charles River and Boston Harbor as well as thanks to the Big Dig project, an enormous construction roll along city streets. project, Boston is now linked to nearby Charlestown by Wandering through Boston’s wealthy and well-preserved the spectacular Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge—the Beacon Hill and Back Bay neighborhoods is a trip into histo- world’s largest cable-stayed bridge.

14 TravelNursing2005 www.nursingcenter.com Far left: Old Ironsides (the USS

UREAU Constitution) proudly sits in B Charlestown Navy Yard. Left: Soldiers carry an early flag ISITORS during Harborfest, a July 4th festival & V showcasing Boston’s colonial heritage. Above: sits in down- town Boston, hosting a marketplace ONVENTION

C where early Revolutionaries once met.

OSTON Right: A quiet street in Beacon Hill, B Boston’s oldest neighborhood. Far right: The Swan Boats in REATER

G Boston Commons have floated along since 1877.

Museums of all sorts The Museum of Science has hundreds of interactive Boston museums house world-class exhibits and collec- exhibits, including exhibits on biotechnology and “the HOTOS COURTESY OF THE

P tions. If you love art, start with the Boston Museum of Unseen World.” The on Central Fine Arts and its superb collections of Impressionist Wharf includes a giant ocean tank, an IMAX theater, and paintings, Egyptian sculpture and artifacts, Asian art, many other exhibits, with the Big Dig Visitors Center just and musical instruments. The museum has beautiful adjacent on East India Row. The Ship period rooms and boasts three restaurants. You might and Museum is under renovation and is expected to also enjoy the Art Museums, which reopen in spring 2006. include the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, with its Mid- dle and Far East art objects, and the Fogg Art Mu- Going out on the town seum, with fine collections of mid-20th-century Ameri- Boston long ago shed its Puritanical flavor. Cultural trea- can art and work by Rembrandt. If your passion is sures, culinary delights, and shopping to suit any need or nursing history or ethics, visit Boston College’s Burns whim await you. To find all these things in one conve- Library for its archives of relevant documents, photos, nient location, visit Faneuil Hall. Now a marketplace with and audio and video recordings. shops, restaurants, and entertainment, it housed town

www.nursing2005.com TravelNursing2005, October 15 meetings from 1764 to seafood restaurant with 1774, where early Revo- a long history is known, lutionaries met to dis- oddly, as the No-Name cuss vexing issues such Restaurant, on Boston’s as taxation without rep- Fish Pier. resentation. Maybe you’d like to For music lovers, try a “real” Irish pub? Boston offers the Boston Check out the Littlest Symphony or the Boston Bar or the Plough and Pops (both at Symphony Stars. (Both have Hall, although the Pops music, but the Plough sometimes plays at and Stars also serves Jordan Hall or, during food.) The North End the summer, in the is Boston’s Italian Hatch Memorial Shell on neighborhood and the Charles River Espla- offers fabulous restaurants. Note that many of them nade). Dance aficionados don’t take credit cards and that you’re better off taking won’t want to miss the the T rather than trying to drive to this neighborhood. Boston Ballet, usually Try Pomodoro (cash only) or Piccola Venezia for appearing at the Wang starters. For a great buffet brunch, enjoy the Blue Room Theater. If theater tickets in Cambridge’s Kendall Square—delicious, eclectic food usually are beyond your with a Southern flavor. Boston’s Chinatown offers fantas- budget, look for half- tic dim sum and Cantonese food. price tickets for that day’s shows at BosTix Sport fan heaven outlets, in Faneuil Hall Boston is home to the formerly “cursed” or Copley Square at (at ), the and the Boston Boylston and Dartmouth Celtics (both at the TD Banknorth Garden), and the Streets. Or unwind at an mighty (at Gillette Stadium in inexpensive weeknight nearby Foxborough, reachable by T). comedy show upstairs at You can sail, row, windsurf, kayak, or canoe on the Faneuil Hall, at the Charles River; check out Community Boating, Inc., or Comedy Connection. Harvard Square in Cambridge, a Charles River Canoe and Kayak. You can bike, run, or short T ride across the river from , offers walk along the river. Ice skate on Boston Common’s restaurants and many bookstores. Frog Pond, open daily in season, with cheap admission You won’t go hungry in Beantown. If you like to eat fish, and skate rental. If you love to ski, visit the Berkshires in don’t miss Legal Sea Foods. This long-standing chain has western Massachusetts or Vermont’s slopes. For an many locations and even boasts its own microbiology lab affordable way to meet people while engaging in your to test its seafood. Their clam chowder has been served at favorite sports, try joining an organization like the presidential inaugurations since 1981. Another good Boston Ski and Sports Club.

16 TravelNursing2005 www.nursing2005.com Far left: Close-up look at the Swan Boats. Left: Fenway Park, home of the World Champion Boston Red Sox. Left, center: Sailboats in Boston Harbor. Left, bottom: Paul Revere rides again. Right, top: The Zakim Bridge links Boston and Charlestown. Right, center: Ice-skating on Frog Pond is a delight for all ages. Right, bottom: The Arnold Arboretum includes 265 acres of trees and shrubs.

Out and about: Nearby treasures http://www.cityofboston.com/visitors/default.asp. If If you love baseball but can’t afford a Fenway ticket, go you’re trying to research neighborhoods, visit http:// see the North Shore Spirit team (in the newly formed www.digitalcity.com/boston/neighborhoodsboston/ Canadian-American Professional Baseball League) play at boston/neighborhoodsboston.‹› Fraser Field during summer months in Lynn, just north Emily Law is a freelance writer in Philadelphia, Pa. of Boston. Get a field-box ticket—best in the house—for just $9 at this small, friendly field. Six miles out of Boston at the Forest Hills T stop, you’ll find the exquisite Arnold Arboretum, 265 acres of trees and shrubs with well-maintained paths. In Salem, about 20 minutes by T from Boston, visit the Peabody Essex Museum, which houses an astounding collection of art, architecture, and cultural artifacts from around the world. Of particular note: a relocated 200-year-old house of a Chinese merchant. Salem’s houses cover the range of American architectural styles, and both Salem and nearby Essex are great places for antique shopping. About 45 minutes north of Boston by car or commuter rail check out the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell. Or, if you’re craving quiet beaches and bird-watching, tour the Harbor Islands. Take a picnic and plan on walking around these islands. Of course, there’s always Cape Cod, with its exquisite beaches and charming cottages, which stretches its long, inviting arm south of the city.

For more information If you’d like general tourist information, call the City of Boston at 1-800-SEE-BOSTON or visit its Web site at www.nursing2005.com TravelNursing2005, October 17